Almost Superheroes
by binarose
Summary: AU: Ozai believes the world should be ruled. His children see straight through him, and with their friends, they join up with a group of people fighting against him, and together they discover the Avatar, and prove that children and teenagers are a force to be reckoned with.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own A:TLA. **

**Setting the scene a little better: Zuko, Azula, Ty-Lee and Mai flee the Fire Nation after over hearing Ozai's plan to use Sozin's comet to wipe out the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, and travel into the Earth Kingdom, where they find a resistance, fighting against Ozai's rule, who are about the same age as them! What they didn't think was possible becomes possible, as they begin their travel South in hopes of finding the Avatar, their only hope for the final push against Ozai.**

**Haru is 18.**

**Zuko, Sokka, Suki, Jet, Mai and Yue are 17.**

**Katara, Azula and Ty-Lee are 16.**

**Teo and Toph are 14.**

**Non-benders: Teo, who is not in wheelchair (I love AU's!) and possesses all the skills of his father. **Sokka, but is still a master swordsman and boomerang-er? **Suki is the last of the Kyoshi Warriors, after the Island was burned to the ground, she is a master with the fan, and is a hand to hand combat fighter. **Ty-Lee is still a master chi-blocker. **Jet is still a master of the dual swords.**

**Fire Benders: Zuko, and also a master of the dual swords, although not as refined as Jet, and has mastered lightning and blue fire. **Azula is accomplished in lightning and blue fire still. **Mai uses her fire like Katara uses icicles, not forcing all her energy into one blast (or like she used her knives)**

**Water Benders: Katara is still a master, and is teaching Yue, who wasn't allowed to learn more than the basics in the Norther Water Tribe. Katara is also able to blood bend, but 99% of the time, refuses to do it.**

**Earth Benders: Haru, minus the moustache. **Toph is a master earth bender, as well as a metal bender, and sand bender. She is no longer blind, but still uses the 'badger mole' technique to see using the ground and to tell if people are lying or whatever.

* * *

Azula groaned loudly.

Zuko turned on her.

'Shut. Up.'

'I kinda want you to make me'

'Azula, these woods are crawling with people, probably, who will hate us because we are Fire Nation, and no less, you and me, we're Fire Nation royalty, regardless of whether we want to be. So be quiet. Please.'

Azula sighed indignantly and resigned herself to silence.

'What was that?' squealed Ty-Lee, who although she was more than capable of defending herself, was still scared of the unknown. She grabbed Mai's arm.

'OW! Ty, chill please, ow, I'm losing circulation!' shouted Mai

'Jeez, be quiet!' Zuko shouted.

His voice echoed through the Earth Kingdom forest.

Quite suddenly, eight vines dropped from the trees above them and encircled the four Fire Nation teenagers.

'Well well well, looks like we have some trespassers from the Traitor Nation' said a dark haired, dark skinned girl who did not look Earth Kingdom, with a rather malicious tone

'Now now, we mustn't judge' said a tall, tanned skinned boy carrying dual swords, 'although they are quite clearly Fire Nation' he continued, looking the four of them up and down

The Fire Nation teens huddled closer together.

A taller boy with a deeper voice and long hair approached the huddle.

'Look Jet, he has duo swords too, maybe you could teach him a lesson?' said the long haired boy, who was of Earth Kingdom descent

A small Earth Kingdom girl looked down at her feet, and whispered in the ear of the strange white haired girl, who was dark skinned enough to be Water Tribe, and both giggled softly and nodded at the Water Tribe warrior stood next to them.

'You've scared them enough now guys, Toph says their hearts are practically about to pound out of their chests' he said

The group that had descended from the trees let out a simultaneous laugh at the confused look on the faces of the Fire Nation teens.

'You're not going to kill us?' Zuko questioned, not entirely sure he wanted an answer.

The girl with the short brown hair holding two fans in her belt spoke first.

'Of course not' she smiled kindly at them

A younger looking boy with goggles on his head spoke next.

'We don't get a lot of chances for a laugh around here...'

The Water Tribe warrior huffed.

The young boy continued '...so we thought we'd have some fun'

The Fire Nation teens still looked confused.

The girl who had first spoken to them, who appeared to be Water Tribe, then spoke, with a much kinder, almost motherly tone.

'Look, we know who you are, we heard your loud conversation back there, but we only had to listen to confirm it was you. We share an ally in the Fire Nation' she smilled at the rest of her group who all closed their eyes in an almost reverent way, like they owed their lives to this 'ally' that apparently was an ally of the Fire Nation teens as well.

'I'm still confused, and I still can't feel my arm Ty!' said Mai

Ty-Lee was still gripping her arm very tightly. Azula pried her off.

The motherly girl spoke again.

'Look, just trust us' she said as she held up a White Lotus pai-sho piece.

Zuko stepped towards her.

'Your ally is Iroh?'

The motherly girl nodded her head. Azula broke into a smile, and Ty-Lee relaxed. Mai was indifferent.

'Yes, he has been a great help since Ozai took power. But it is not safe to discuss on ground level.'

She went to grab the vine she had descended on, and so did the others.

'Wait.' Zuko took charge of the situation, 'Can you at least tell us who you are?'

The Water Tribe warrior nodded at the tall boy with the dual swords, who then spoke.

'We are freedom fighters, an underground resistance against Ozai and his armies. We've all been affected by him in some way, and we kind of got thrown together, sometimes literally, and we've been waiting for you, for a while, to pluck up some courage to leave the Fire Nation, like Iroh said you would. Now that you're here, we can sort the final part of our plan.'

'More on that later though,' the motherly girl spoke again, 'Hungry? Thirsty? Tired?'

The Fire Nation teens nodded.

'Good' she smiled again, 'Now, first things first, I'm Katara'

'I'm Jet' said the tall boy with the swords

'I'm Suki' said the girl with the short brown hair

'I'm Haru' said the taller, deeper voiced boy with the long hair

'I'm Toph' said the small girl with the stunning green eyes

'I'm Yue' said the strange white haired girl

'I'm Sokka' said the Water Tribe warrior

'And I'm Teo' said the young boy with the goggles

'Wow, I am, um...I'm Zuko, this is my sister Azula' Zuko gesticulated at his younger sister

'I'm Ty-Lee'

'I'm Mai'

'Awesome, introductions over, let's head up, you four grab someone, preferably Haru, Jet, Suki or Sokka, they have the strength to lift you, and we'll get you fed and watered' said Katara


	2. Chapter 2

A campfire in the trees, Zuko thought, I have seen everything now.

The twelve strong tree community was huddled round a fire pit, drinking a hot drink that Teo called 'hot cocoa'

'Can you tell us your stories?' Ty-Lee asked timidly

'Sure!' said Toph 'I'll go first, because my story is the least interesting'

'My parents are Earth Kingdom nobility, who don't like the Earth Kingdom. They're probably helping Ozai plan his takeover of the Earth Kingdom. I didn't like what they thought, and wanted to protect the people of the Earth Kingdom, so I left, and ran into Haru, or rather Haru ran into me. Haru, you next' she smiled

'Fine. Yeah, so I was on the run from Fire Nation police who were clearing the Earth Benders out of my village. My house was on a hill, so I saw the smoke rise as they started burning everything to the ground, and I knew my parents had been in the town centre seeing friends, and it was too late for them, so I ran out into the surrounding hills, but I got followed by a couple of dunderheads from the police, who chased me for a few hours, and then I literally ran into Toph, because I was looking for the police and not ahead of me. Toph is able to feel vibrations in the ground, so she knew the police had stopped, so we journeyed on together at a slower pace, when we ran into Teo...'

Teo began 'If you remember rightly, I almost landed on you. My father and I had been Earth Kingdom nomads, a tradition that is almost dead, and in the dead of night, my father had been taken, but the men who took him didn't see me, so I was left alone in a cave, on a dusty hill. My father was an inventor and a genius, so I had loads of gadgets, which are in the tree house over there, so I was able to survive, and I was able to make anything else I needed, and I could hunt too. Then, one day, I heard a couple of Fire Nation guys walking in the hills, mumbling about something or other, and decided I needed to move, so I packed up all my stuff, abandoned the hope that my dad would come back, and set off in the opposite direction of the Fire Nation men, and ended up walking side step along a very narrow cliff ridge, which collapsed underneath me, and on top of them two. Luckily, Toph had known I was there for some time, so she slowed the rock I was clinging to down and lowered me to the ground, and after establishing that neither of us wanted to kill the other, we carried on down the hill pass, and into these woods, where we met Jet'

Jet looked very solemn. Katara put her arm around him and put her head on his shoulder. He lifted his head slightly and began his story.

'My village wasn't far from Haru's. I saw the smoke from our guard tower, and warned everybody, but there was more police than we thought, and all our Earth Benders were incapacitated, killed or taken away. I'm not a bender, but my mother was, and I watched her get killed right in front of me, so I fought back against the police, with not much luck. They tied me up in the stocks in the town square and tried to get my friends, neighbours and family to ridicule me, but they all refused, and the Fire Nation twits realised that it would be better just to kill us all, so they started throwing fire in every direction, and the village went up in flames, as did the ropes binding me. Not many others got out, and my fight or flight instinct kicked in, and I knew I had to get out of there, and I couldn't look back, or search for anyone, so I just ran. My village was about 4 miles out from the eastern edge of the forest, and I was deep into the woods when I ran into Haru, Toph and Teo. We joined forces as it were, two Earth Benders, a master swordsman and the genius, and started planning a resistance and building all of this, but we weren't exactly making great progress until our Water Tribe friends turned up...guys?'

Katara, Sokka and Yue exchanged glances.

Katara began ' Mine and Sokka's father was the Southern Tribe chief, and we were all on a peace trip to our sister tribe in the North, where Yue is from. Our mother died when we were very young, in a Fire Nation raid, when she was protecting me, because they were rounding up Water Benders, and I am the last of the Southerners'

'My mother was visiting the Southern Water Tribe at the time of that raid, and she was also killed' Yue said, giving a sad smile to Sokka and Katara

'But yeah, we were in the Northern Water Tribe for a hunting trip, with Yue's brother and father, the chief, and then the black snow fell' Sokka said

'Water Tribe children have been taught since the beginning of the war to fear the black snow, because it meant a Fire Nation raid. The Northern Tribe is much better protected than the Southern Tribe, but the Fire Nation was prepared. They tore through the walls with their armoured ships, and they melted half the city to the ground before anyone had managed to get away.' said Katara

Yue continued ' At the time of the beginning of the raid, myself, Katara, Sokka, my brother Joen, Master Pakku, Katara's water bending teacher, whom she surpassed many years ago, and both of fathers were in the Imperial Palace, and saw everything happen. Joen and Pakku ran to help the citizens, while our fathers forced the three of us into the icy tundra, with an eelhound and a map, and we sped off in the direction of the Earth Kingdom. We haven't heard word from either tribe since then, but we found a note in the eelhound's collar, from Iroh that had been sent to my father, telling of his allegiance to the safety and balance of the world and not to the Fire Nation, and of something that could prove to be the tipping point in the war'

'What was it?' asked the four Fire Nation teens enthusiastically

'Later.' Said Katara firmly

'So anyway, it took us a few weeks, but we made it to the Earth Kingdom, we set the eelhound free and we just kept walking inland for a few days, until we practically collapsed on the northern edge of the forest, and as luck would have it Toph was all the way out there, searching for a herb or something, and she motivated us and we made it back here, and then we sent a message to Iroh by sneaking into a village at the east of the forest, and told him we acknowledged his allegiance, and that we would need help. We then got a hawk in reply, about two months ago, saying that you four would probably abandon the Fire Nation, and he would drop hints about where you should go when you left' Sokka said

'And here you are' said Yue

Zuko and Azula looked shocked, they had not imagined their uncle as a conspirator against his own brother.

'And you?' Ty-Lee asked Suki

Suki got up, and walked quickly along the bridges and platforms to her hut.

Jet spoke 'She hasn't been here all that long, just a few weeks, she was on a convoy headed for a prison in Yu Dao, and we intercepted it, and by that I mean, I distracted the guards with Sokka, and the girls got the prisoners out. But we were hopelessly outnumbered by the guards, and we only just managed to escape into the trees, with Suki...and her son.'

'She has a son?' Azula asked

'She had a son' said Katara, lowering her head in what seemed like shame

Jet whispered in her ear, 'It wasn't your fault' and kissed the younger Water Tribe girl on the forehead.

'She had been, ehum, taken advantage of by a member of the police who had controlled her island, and she had a son. He was about two when we intercepted the convoy. It wasn't until we got back up here that we realised he had been hurt in the confusion.' Sokka explained

'Katara is the best healer in the world, and Yue is training, but they still weren't able to save him' Toph continued

Katara began to cry softly into Jet's shoulder.

'Oh god' said Ty-lee 'I shouldn't have asked her about what happened to her!'

'It's not your fault; honestly, she just needs some time to deal with it. Like the rest of us, she had lost her parents in one form or another, but it was so long ago, and she was raised as a Kyoshi warrior by her uncle, who from what I understand, wasn't the kindest man, and her son was all she had in the world until she met us. I think what got her the most though was that she thought she was safe once we got her out of the convoy, and then everything came crashing down again.' Haru said, with an air of wisdom, much beyond his years

'Happier subject, happier subject!' said Sokka, with a forced smile on his face

Katara laughed on Jet's shoulder.

'Where do we sleep?' Mai asked

Katara lifted her head, 'Zuko, you'll be with Sokka and Jet, they have the bigger hut. Azula and Mai, you'll be with Yue, because she also has a big hut, watch out, she snores, that's why I don't share with her. And Ty-Lee, you'll be with me. Toph sleeps with Suki, because Suki appears to be completely deaf, because Toph's snoring is like an earthquake, it is a wonder we haven't been caught yet.'

Everybody smiled at the Water Tribe girl, said their goodnights, and went off to bed, after what had been a long and eventful day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long-ish, kind of filler chapter, but I had some ends to tie up and wanted to explain my thoughts on Maiko, Suki, and where Aang is going to come into this - Enjoy :)**

**Thanks to LandofMidnightRain for the kind review - I was aware I was doing the quotation marks wrong, it's a convenience thing for the way I type, I don't know, it's just easier, I understand what you mean about the unprofessional look though, so thanks :) but you'll notice I haven't changed :S too set in habit, and convenience.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites guys :)**

* * *

The next morning, Katara was up bright and early, as always and was making breakfast when Mai appeared.

'Good morning'

'Good morning, sleep well?' Katara asked

'Surprisingly, yes, but you were right about the snoring. How can such a noise come out of someone so...delicate?'

Katara laughed

'Yue may look delicate, but she is my best Water Bending student ever, actually, she's my only Water Bending student, but don't underestimate her'

'She's older than you, and yet, you are the Sifu?'

'The Northern Water Tribe does not feel that its women need to learn combat Water Bending, so they teach them the basics and then they are sent to healing classes. The Southern Water Tribe didn't even have that privilege, but one summer, I was sent to the Northern Tribe to be taught Water Bending, and Master Pakku taught me everything because I had to be part of the protection for my tribe on my return. I surpassed him within weeks; I picked it up very quickly. I've been teaching Yue since we got here, there's a small lake about a mile that way, and she's also a training healer, as you heard last night'

'You guys have had hard lives' said Mai, feeling suddenly ashamed of her noble background

'Mai, relax, we don't want you to feel sorry for us, and we aren't going to poke fun at the life you guys have had' Katara said, offering her a cup of tea

Jet appeared from his hut, with no shirt on, showing off his perfect stomach, and stretched, before wandering over to the fire pit.

'Good morning' he said as he kissed Katara on the cheek, before jumping from the platform to the ground and heading towards the lake

Mai raised her eyebrows and smiled at Katara, who was blushing

'You can't live in such close proximity without falling for each other' said Katara coming to her own defence

'Who else is together?' Mai enquired

'No one else, but Sokka really likes Suki, but it's not exactly mutual, she doesn't trust men. And Teo has a little school boy crush on Yue, but I think Toph will catch his eye one day. What about you and Zuko? You seem pretty close.'

'We have been promised to each other since we were small children, but now that we've abandoned the Fire Nation, I think that's a bit void now, but he's grown to be my best friend over the years, I know more about him than most people, with the exception of Azula, and he's just become...him. But I don't know anymore, the future is too uncertain'

A voice startled them, 'Isn't that why you should go for it though? Live in the present and all that. You need some happiness or it might get ripped out from underneath you' The voice belonged to Suki.

'Morning Suki, tea?' Katara said warmly, offering a cup to the older girl

'Thank you. I'm sorry about last night, I overheard that I made you upset, that wasn't my intention, I just needed to be alone with my thoughts, please understand I do not blame any of you for what happened, and Mai, take a chance with Zuko'

Katara smiled at Suki, who smiled back and took a long drink of her tea.

'I'll think about it,' Mai paused 'Did he have a name? Your son, I mean' asked Mai tentatively

'Yes, he was called Kenji, he had just turned two, and he was everything to me, the one piece of happiness I had left in the world, regardless of how he came into being. So I know what I'm talking about when I tell you to seize the moment and treasure it.'

'I'm so sorry for what the people of the Fire Nation have caused you'

'Please, don't apologise for what the people you have abandoned did. And besides, if it wasn't for the Fire Nation, I would not have had him, and while part of my mind wishes it had not happened to me, I can't imagine what the last two years would have been like' said Suki smiling at Mai

Katara looked at her early morning companions.

The three girls huddled around the fire pit and shared a hug, and after a few minutes of tentative conversation, they were exploding with laughter, that slowly woke the others up.

'Morning all!' called Jet as he climbed the tree back up to the platform, where everyone had once again assembled around the fire pit, and were sharing in tea, breakfast and many hearty laughs.

'Can you put a shirt on?' said Sokka, an odd look on his face, after noticing all the women staring at Jet

'Oh leave him' whispered Yue, as if talking to herself

Jet leaned down, sliding his shirt over his head as he did so, and placed a small kiss on Katara's head.

'Eugh, oogies man. That's my baby sister'

'Oh shut up Sokka' said Katara sternly

'So...' Zuko began

'Yeah?' asked Toph

'We wanted to ask about what Iroh had told you about' said Azula

Katara looked at Jet, who looked down at her and then nodded to Haru.

'Long or short version?' Haru asked

The Fire Nation teens looked perplexed.

'The long version?' Ty-Lee said, and almost instantly regretted her decision, as the rest of the group, minus the other Fire Nation teens, groaned simultaneously.

Haru had been planning this in his head for a long time.

'Get comfy guys, this may takes days' Toph said as she rearranged herself into a reclined position

Haru cleared his throat and began;

'Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony, but that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked as commanded by Fire Lord Sozin over 100 years ago, after Avatar Roku had died, and the new Avatar had been born into the Air Nomads. Sozin's response to this was to use a comet, the same comet that is returning at the end of the summer which Ozai plans to use to take over the world, to wipe out the Air Nomads and end the Avatar cycle, but Sozin did not take into account a number of things that we have learned about the Avatar. The Avatar cycle would only have been broken if the reincarnated Avatar was in the Avatar State, where he was able to summon all the power of the previous Avatars. He would have been his most powerful and more vulnerable. But there is no telling if this happened. There is also a chance that the Avatar was not in the Avatar state, but was killed, meaning the Avatar was reincarnated into the Earth Kingdom, and probably by now, that Avatar would have died, meaning the Avatar may well be a Fire Nation citizen, and does not know who he is. There is another option as to what could have happened. There is no record of the Air Nomad citizens, no census or anything, so there is no telling how many of them did not live in temples. Or how many of them left the temples. An option we must consider is that the Avatar fled the temple, and when the war broke out, decided to hide from it, or go into a comatose like Avatar state, and is still alive. From the information provided by General Iroh, we know Roku died 15 years before the Air Nomad genocide, meaning the Avatar would be about 15 years old. Iroh also collected some scrolls from the Air Temples, showing that it is possible for the Avatar state to stop aging and to send the Avatar into a comatose state, as we had only previously guessed, and so now, we believe the young Avatar, who was an Air Nomad of about 15 years old, and he is alive, and what's better, we are close to figuring out where he is. Questions?'

The freedom fighters were all in slumped positions. The Fire Nation teens just looked confused.

'The Avatar? That's your plan to defeat our father? An old legend?'

'Your father believes him dead, but your uncle has hope, he believes that the Avatar knew who he was, and for whatever reason left the Air Temple before the comet came and used the Avatar State to protect himself, and is lying dormant somewhere, and wherever he is, we must find him' Haru said

'Zuko, Azula, your Uncle believes there is a way to end this war, and we're running out of time. The comet returns in a little under 3 months, and if we don't find some way to take your father down before then, there won't be a world left to save' stated Sokka

'But we're all just children. What can we do?' asked Ty-Lee

'It's our chance to show the world how bad-ass we can be! A genius, two master swordsmen, a Kyoshi warrior, an expert chi-blocker, three master Fire Benders, two master Water Benders and two master Earth Benders, all under the age of 20. We have the element of surprise; no one expects a group of kids to be able to defend themselves so well! Add Katara's blood bending, my sand bending and metal bending, Mai's great aim, Jet's amazing hearing, a bit of lightning shock from Azula and Sokka's ingenuity to the mix, and we won't have a problem. Then add the power of the Avatar to that, and your father will be taken by complete surprise!' said Toph rather excitedly

'So, are you in?' asked Jet of the Fire Nation teens

Mai and Ty-Lee nodded enthusiastically. Zuko and Azula hesistated.

'What if he can't do it? The Avatar I mean, if he is alive like you think, what if he hasn't got the power or the will to end the war, and end my father?' the scepticism in Zuko's voice flowing freely

'That's why we've been waiting for you, all of us, we're kind of like a back-up team, the plan B as it were, in case a) The Avatar isn't alive and the cycle was broken, or b) if he is alive, and his Air Nomadic ways take precedence over his duty to restore peace, or c) worst case scenario, the cycle carried on, and the Avatar is now a Fire Nation citizen, does not know who he is and is set in his ways of believing in Ozai. From what Iroh has said, no one of us could take Ozai alone, we know you know this Zuko, as evident by your scar, but together, he will not be expecting it, and together we are more than capable of taking him on. Avatar or no Avatar, Ozai will fall, either with the help of the spirits, or at the hands of his children and their friends.' Yue said

'Ok.' was all Azula said

'Azula! You know it can't be done!' Zuko shouted

'Not alone brother, you know this more than most! But all of us...they're right, we can take him. We'll take him down, or die trying. Zuko, we need you, I need you, and you know he must fall. Remember, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.' Azula explained patiently to her brother

Zuko looked solemn and dropped his head.

When he raised it, he realised the rest of the group, his new friends, were all looking at him.

'Zuko, we need you, if nothing else, we need more fire power to counter act Ozai's. Please' pleaded Katara

Zuko looked each of his new friends over, their lives destroyed by the man he unfortunately called his father.

'Ok'


End file.
